The Real Spencer Hastings
by CallMeAddicted
Summary: Spencer hasn't been quite herself and Hanna's on a mission to reveal the truth...


**AN: Hey, this is my first PLL fic. Although I must admit I really love Haleb, I'd choose Spanna if I had a choice. They're too cute. This was a just a little post finale head-cannon of mine. Please comment!**

* * *

From her position at the kitchen counter, she eyed Spencer curiously as the taller woman stood still just beyond the entrance to the barn. Spencer appeared confused as she came to the conclusion that all their friends were here. It bothered Hanna and gave her the same niggling feeling she'd been getting all week – there was something up with Spencer.

"Hey guys," the brunette greeted as she dropped her work bag and keys on the credenza. "What's going on?"

The ladies looked up, each with some variation of a questioning look.

"You invited us…" Aria spoke up first. "Remember, last week in the group chat you said _'Hey guys, we haven't had a girls' night in forever; what's everyone doing Friday?'_ "

It took a few moments for before Spencer seemed to remember and she chuckled at her own forgetfulness. "I must have had too much wine that night, because I definitely don't remember. But since we're all here, what's the plan for tonight?" she plopped down on the arm of the sofa, eyeing all the junk food and snacks gathered on the coffee table.

"First drinks," said Emily.

"Then movies and junk food," Aria jumped in.

"Then we're gonna stay up all night telling each other secrets…" Alison chanted in a sly voice they hadn't heard since they're teenage years. They all burst into laughter at the moment of childish levity. All laughed but Hanna who remained where she was hoping to God that her suspicions were just such.

"Okay, I'm going to change out of my work clothes and prepare for this night of mischief."

Hanna had already completed a pitcher of mango margarita and was preparing a giant bowl of popcorn and M&M's when she noticed Spencer taking a detour through the kitchen. She molded herself to Hanna's back, greeting the blonde with a kiss on the cheek and a soft caress under her shirt. That move in itself was suspicious to Hanna because her girlfriend was never in an amorous mood just after work. Normally Spencer was crabby after a stressful day at the office and Hanna would have to coax her into serenity and remind her that work was over and she was home now, and _then_ Spencer's mood would lift and she would become more affectionate. It was a process with the other woman – every day was a master class in onion peeling.

"How was work?" the blonde asked. She continued pouring candy and popcorn in the bowl, layering the different snacks for a more even distribution.

"It was good," Spencer mumbled through a mouth full of pilfered popcorn. "I missed you. I'm gonna go change now." She kissed Hanna again, this time adding a small nibble to the blonde's chin.

Yeah, something was definitely non-Spencer about Spencer. And if Spencer wasn't Spencer, there was only one other person she could be…

* * *

Less than ten minutes later, Spencer joined the girls in the living room. She threw a pillow and blanket on the floor and laid her long body out.

 _She hates that shirt; she would never wear it to bed!_ Hanna thought to herself. The brunette had come out of their bedroom wearing a t-shirt bought for her by Mona. It wasn't a bad t-shirt, but Spencer hated it on principle alone. She was still stubbornly fighting her acceptance of Mona in their lives and refused to admit that the shirt was funny and cute. But tonight she'd worn it without fuss – and willingly! Hanna was certain – this was not their Spencer; this was not _her_ Spencer and probably hadn't been for a while.

"That's it," she growled as she pounced on the taller woman and began slapping her around. The girls immediately got up from their seats, trying to break up the fight, but unfortunately their drunken movements were a bit too slow. "How did you get here and what did you do with Spencer!" Hanna accused. She kept trying to land a hit but the brunette used her longer arms to block Hanna and try to keep her away.

"Hanna, what the hell!" Emily yelled attempting to pull the shorter blonde off her friend.

"That's not Spencer, it's Alex! Tell us where Spencer is you insane bitch!"

The accused woman stood up from the floor and didn't even see it coming when Hanna managed to slip just past Emily and landed a hard punch to her face. Aside from the sickening sound of flesh and bone colliding with flesh and bone, the only other noise was the collective gasps of Aria, Emily and Alison, who were too shocked to even move.

When Spencer (or "Spencer") looked up, her eyes were tearing and blood was running from her lip.

"Where. Is. Spencer." Hanna tried one more time. She was shaking with adrenaline and fear and anger. "Where is she!"

"I am she! I am Spencer! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"If you're Spencer why have you been acting different all week?"

"I have not been – "

"Yes, you have. Like tonight: you "forgot" that you invited everyone over?"

"I told you, I had a lot of wine that night. Yes, I forgot. Is that a crime?"

"And three days ago when we made dinner reservations and you "forgot" to show up?"

"You said you were marking it on my calendar to remind me and you never did!"

"Oh, so you're gonna blame me now?"

"Yes, Hanna! YOU SAID YOU WOULD PUT IT ON MY CALENDAR AND YOU DID NOT PUT IT ON MY CALENDAR!"

"Okay, stop! This is crazy – " Alison started.

"I'm not crazy!" both Hanna and Spencer yelled simultaneously.

"First, wow," the school teacher raised an eyebrow. "Second, we can easily clear this up. Spencer, what's a secret that Hanna's only told you?"

She thought for a moment then smiled as if she'd thought of something brilliant. "Hanna once went on a date and didn't realize she had a booger in her nose until she went to the bathroom halfway through the date."

The others tried to contain their laughter at Hanna's now beet-red face. "Okay, that doesn't count because I told you that last week! You've probably been pretending to be Spencer for at least that long!"

Aria tried next, "Okay, Spence, what's something that _you've_ only told Hanna?"

"It wouldn't matter," Hanna threw her hands up frantically, "If _A.D._ has been pretending to be Spencer, wouldn't she know everything there is about the real Spencer?"

"Well if I should know everything about "the real Spencer" how would you figure out if I was A.D.?" Spencer replied derisively.

"Aside from you forgetting everything in the last week? You made two mistakes tonight. First, you weren't your usual grumpy self when you got home from work…" She didn't notice the hint of self-consciousness stirring in the brunette after that comment. "And second, you're wearing that t-shirt Mona bought you. You hate that shirt and would never wear it by choice!"

Quietly, but with a voice full of tension, Spencer answered, "You didn't do laundry this week."

"Whatever! I didn't do the laundry; what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"We agreed that this week I would do dishes all week because you kept complaining that dishes were the worst chore in the house and you were tired of doing them. So I agreed that if you do laundry this week, I'll do dishes all week. I kept my half of the deal and you still haven't washed the clothes! So when I came home and found a living room full of our friends wearing their pajamas and gearing up for a long night of junk food and drinking, I wanted to change into my comfy pajamas also. But I couldn't because they were dirty, because you didn't do the laundry, Hanna!"

Having had enough of this, and feeling the ache in her lip settle in, Spencer stormed toward the kitchen and retrieved an ice pack from the freezer. She wrapped it in a towel and placed the cold pack on her split lip.

"You want to know a secret Hanna's only told me?" slamming the ice pack down on the counter, she quickly makes her way to the blonde standing with her hands on her hips. "In ninth grade we had a sleepover, just the two of us. It was the night of Hanna's birthday party that no one else showed up to. We spent the whole night eating junk and listening to music and watching movies. We played truth or dare."

Hanna began to blush at the memory of that night.

Spencer continued. She stood close to Hanna, speaking directly to her, looking her in the eyes. "The game was getting intense and I asked ' _truth or dare?'_ Hanna chose truth. It was the first truth all night."

"What did she tell you?" Alison urged.

"Ali," Emily warned.

"I want to know, too," admitted Aria.

"Well, I asked Hanna to tell me her fantasy. And she said – "

"Ahh! No, we don't need to hear anymore," Emily yelled, placing her hands over her ears.

But Spencer continued; it was her mission to make her friends – her girlfriend especially – believe without a doubt that she was, in fact, herself. "Three weeks ago when I came home from work, you'd prepared dinner and had my favorite wine set out, and you were wearing that pink, lacey thing I like…"

"Okay, yeah, this is getting awkward," the shortest brunette swiveled on her toes and headed back into the bedroom. The two other women quickly followed her, shutting the door behind them.

Hanna nearly melted when Spencer wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close and tracking the outline of her lips with her free hand. "I was so impressed with dinner and loved that you went through the trouble for me. And I was absolutely turned on by you. So I took you into the bedroom and asked you if you remembered what you'd told me all those years ago about your fantasy…"

"I remembered…"

"And I made it happen. I think your back nearly bent in half when I – "

"Oh my God, Spence!" Hanna gasped as it finally dawned on her that she'd beat the crap out of her girlfriend. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" While she was apologetic and felt horribly for what she'd done, she couldn't stop the laughter from bursting through.

The shocked, amazed, terrified look on Spencer's face did nothing to calm Hanna's laughter. "Did I miss the joke?"

Wiping tears from her eyes – tears of laughter, mind you – Hanna gasped out, "Our lives are ridiculous! Most people would see their girlfriend acting strange and think there's something normal going on like depression or drugs, but I see my girlfriend acting strange and jump to the conclusion that her evil twin must have escaped her dungeon and kidnapped my girlfriend. You kind of have to laugh at it, Spence!"

"No, I don't have to laugh at it. It's not that funny."

"Yes it is!" she continued to laugh, bawling on the sofa now.

"I can't help that I have an evil twin who's really good at being me. It's not something to laugh about – it's like a handicap, Hanna."

"Babe, come here," Hanna wiped the tears from her eyes. She tugged Spencer down to the sofa and straddled her, smoothing the frown lines from the taller woman's face. "I'm not laughing _at_ you; I'm laughing because I refuse to be sad and depressed any longer. You have to admit that if you took a step back and saw our situation from an objective point of view, it's kind of ridiculous to the point of being funny."

"Maybe," Spencer begrudgingly admitted. She played with the hem of Hanna's shirt. "Did you mean what you said about me being my usual grumpy self when I come home from work?"

"Yes. But I like it. You're my Spencie-poo and you have this grumpy cat thing going sometimes. One of the best parts of my day is getting to cheer you up after work and make coming home something for you to look forward to."

Hanna traced over the cut on Spencer's lip. The bleeding had stopped, but she could almost see the nerve endings throbbing. Leaning in gently, she kissed the wound. "Come on, let me get you something for that. A few more margaritas and you won't feel a thing."

"Sorry I forgot about tonight," Spencer offered as the blonde led her into their kitchen. "But in the future, if you say you're going to add an event to my calendar, please don't forget, because I definitely will forget. And even if you add it, remind me every day."

"I'm not your mom, Spence. Set an alarm."

"Fine."

"Where'd everyone go?" Hanna looked around for the other girls.

"I don't know. Whatever though, more Hanna for me," she whispered in her signature husky voice.

The blonde giggled as her girlfriend moved in closer and gently bit down on her flesh. "Do that again," Hanna breathed. Spencer obliged and she was reminded in that moment that this woman could be no other than her girl, for who else could possess her heart but the real Spencer Hastings?


End file.
